News

Valley City: Microcosm of the Nation

March 22nd, 2017

Russell J. Myhre, Valley City attorney in his office - photo by C.S. Hagen

Russell Myhre lit a second cigarette, pulled his wool coat closer against the February chill after proudly revealing a red heart tattoo on his chest. He waved to Fred Thompson, former Valley City Police Chief, from across the parking lot behind his law office.

“Hey, Mr. Thompson, come on over here, my friend,” Myhre said. “You just wandering around?”

“Nope,” Thompson said. No mistaking the man was law enforcement. Large-framed, shoulders slightly stooped, he eyed the area…

City of Fargo plans summer street improvement projects

March 22nd, 2017

32nd Avenue improvements, wastewater removal, buffered bike lanes and street light projects are all on the agenda for Fargo – coming to a neighborhood near you soon. In fact, the corridor on 32nd Avenue South has already begun construction.

Tom Knakmuhs, Division Engineer of Design and Construction for the City of Fargo, says that the 32nd Avenue project – which extends from 42nd Street S to 32nd Street South - will include widening of the bridge, improving pavement conditions, and…

Cormorant has gone to the dogs

March 8th, 2017

Cormorant is one of many small lakeside townships in the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes. With a population barely exceeding one thousand, the town may seem rather unremarkable if it weren’t for the beautiful view of the lake. There is something else that sets Cormorant apart from other small towns in Minnesota however, its mayor.

To explain, their mayor has four legs, a wet nose, and is covered with fur. That’s right, the mayor of Cormorant, Minnesota since 2014 has been Duke, a…

United Nations denounces North Dakota State Government

March 8th, 2017

Activists preparing to leave pause on the cannon ball bridge on highway 1806 - photo by C.S. Hagen

CANNON BALL - Bakken oil could be flowing through the Dakota Access Pipeline within a week, but Standing Rock still hopes for a legal miracle as the United Nations condemns what it calls widespread discrimination and North Dakota’s militarized response.

As Standing Rock’s legal options diminish, an injunction filed by Cheyenne River Tribe, part of the Great Sioux Nation, was once again turned down by federal judges on Tuesday. Previous injunctions filed by the tribe to stop…

“Two Worlds Collided”

March 2nd, 2017

Fargo Police deputy Ross Renner - photo by C.S. Hagen

FARGO - Lamar Heidersheid brought his 15-year-old daughter Angelina to the Fargo Community Sweat Lodge for the first time last week.

He wanted the experience to be special for her, and to bring their Cherokee culture one step closer to heart. Instead, nearing the end of their fourth round in the sweat lodge, they were raided by Fargo Police. A fellow Native American, Zebediah Gartner, was arrested, and the group spent at least 45 minutes in the cold, wearing little clothing and covered…

A license to hate

March 2nd, 2017

Guardhouse 2 - by C.S. Hagen

FARGO - Militarized police armed with emergency declarations, beanbags and bullets, zip ties and presidential orders, have scattered most of the camps pitted against the Dakota Access Pipeline, but local hatred against the movement remains.

And it’s being promoted across the state, from rural farmer to urban politician.

As the activists’ camps consolidate to its last bastion, Sacred Stone Camp, where the movement originally began, no one has been killed. Many have been injured, and…

Threats Directed At Native American Arrested From Sweat Lodge

February 25th, 2017

FARGO - Barking dogs don’t bite, but they’re noisy and excitable. The day Zebediah Gartner, an Anishinaabe from Fargo, was released from Cass County Jail after being pulled from a sweat lodge by Fargo police, the “dogs” began to bark. He received threats and slander from Fargo-Moorhead residents.

“A couple people talking nonsense but I didn’t give them the time of the day,” Gartner said. “They’re just talking crap about my mom, and talking about how stupid we are.”…

Fargo Police Arrest Native American From Sweat Lodge

February 24th, 2017

Zebediah Gartner released from jail Friday afternoon after being pulled from a spiritual ceremony in a Native American sweat lodge in Fargo by police - photo by C.S. Hagen

FARGO - Fargo Police pulled Native Americans out of a sweat lodge during a spiritual ceremony Thursday night, and took one to jail wearing nothing but undershorts for resisting arrest.

The resisting arrest charge was dropped for insufficient evidence by the city early Friday, but Zebediah Gartner, an Anishinaabe, pled guilty to a class B misdemeanor for theft of property, which stemmed from a January 24 incident involving a disputed two or three pieces of chicken taken from Cashwise…

The Final Standing Rock

February 23rd, 2017

Activists at Oceti entrance while fires rage behind them - photo by C.S. Hagen

CANNON BALL - Twenty hours before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ deadline to evacuate the Oceti camps, the thunder beings arrived.

And geese returned home a month or more early.

Signs, activists say, like the the herded buffalo that charged near law enforcement in November 2016, or the golden eagle who perched for hours on a nearby fence, that nature is listening.

On the final day for the Standing Rock camps’ fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline, native songs and flames filled…

Of Pets And Politics

February 22nd, 2017

FARGO - Choose to be oblivious. Choose to learn. Choose a story. Learn a cause. Choose to read. Choose anger. Choose to reject glacier calving. Choose to believe in women’s rights. Choose free speech. Choose big oil, big pharmaceuticals, America First, TV, alcohol, marijuana, fast cars, family, gay rights, indigenous rights, white power, terrorism…

Choose a pet.

From melting storied glaciers to I.C.E. deportations, fake news to alternative facts further polarizing political and social…